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Broccoli is one of my kids favorite veggies. But I get really tired of eating steamed broccoli. Fortunately, I discovered the wonderful flavor of roasted broccoli. This is more of a technique than a recipe. It also works great with green beans, asparagus, cauliflower, summer squash, potatoes, etc. The key is to use fresh, not frozen, veggies.

Roasted Broccoli

Broccoli pieces and flowerets, fresh not frozen
Olive oil
Salt (kosher salt works really well with this)
Pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place broccoli in a baking dish in a single layer (I typically use a large Pyrex dish). Drizzle with olive oil (I use about 1 Tbsp). Season with salt and pepper. Place in oven. Cook for about 10 minutes or until it has reached your desired level of doneness (I typically cook mine about 12 minutes–I like there to be a little bits of browned parts).

I am always on the look out for new ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle. One small thing I do is reuse cereal wrappers. It makes a great, heavy duty wax paper.

fter eating all the cereal, I cut the ends off the bags, cut the middle seam, and wash the wrapper. Now I have a flat piece of wax paper. This stuff is super heavy–much heavier than wax paper. What do I do with it? Basically I use it for anything that I would use wax paper for but here are a couple of examples of when it works better than wax paper.

-Roll out pizza dough or pie crust. The dough does not stick to the wrapper. Simply roll out the dough, lift up the paper and dough, and invert onto pizza pan or pie pan. The wrapper is so heavy that you can reuse it many times. If you have the big boxes of cereal, the wrapper is bigger than most pizza pans.

-Use the wrapper when I am tenderizing meat. I place the meat on the wrapper and then fold the wrapper over the meat. I then use my meat mallet to tenderize the meat. This helps keep bits of meat from flying around. Since the wrapper is so heavy duty, it withstands the hits from the mallet. Just be sure to throw out the wrapper after it touches raw meat.

-Roll out tortillas. When I make homemade tortillas, I place it between two sheets of the wrapper before I roll them out. It helps me get extra thin tortillas and they don’t stick to the paper.

Saving the cereal wrappers is  definitely something that I used to think of as crazy, but, now that I have tried it, I love it.

Monday–Leftovers

Tuesday–Spaghetti & Meatballs
Salad & Rolls

Wednesday–Crockpot Garlic Rosemary Chicken
Roasted Broccoli and Rice

Thursday–Crustless Spinach Quiche
Sliced Tomatoes and Rolls

Friday–Pizza

Saturday–Grilled Steak
Salad, Pasta, Broccoli, and Rice

Sunday–Leftovers

For more menu ideas, check out Org Junkies Menu Planning Monday.

After receiving much inspiration from other posts, I decided to participate in Menu Plan Monday. Here is what is on our menu for this week.

Monday: Pasta with grilled chicken, squash, and pesto sauce, salad, rolls

Tuesday: Hot dogs, chili, chips, sliced fruit

Wednesday: Barbecued country style pork ribs, coleslaw, potato salad

Thursday: Easy Mexican Casserole

Friday: Homemade pizza

Saturday: Chicken Piccata, pasta, salad, steamed broccoli, rolls

Sunday: Leftovers

For more menu ideas, check out Org Junkies Menu Planning Monday.

I have posted a hummus recipe before, but I found a new one that I think I like better. This one is a little creamier and, if you choose, you can omit the olive oil without losing much flavor.

Hummas

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans, drain and reserve juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp tahini or peanut butter*
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
2 tbsp light sour cream or plain yogurt
2 tbsp olive oil (optional)

1. Add all ingredients, except for the reserved bean juice, to the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Slowly drizzle in the reserved bean juice until it reaches your desired consistency (I usually use about 2-4 tbsp). If you like, you can sprinkle paprika on the top of the hummus before serving

*I always use peanut butter. I think that it tastes just as good.

I love Cucumber and Yogurt Salad. It is so fresh and it makes a great dip for your pita bread. Tzatziki also does very well when it is made ahead–it is a great leftover the following day.

Tzatziki (Cucumber and Yogurt Salad)

2 cups yogurt
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp dried parsley
Ground pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Line a fine mesh sieve or a colander with a coffee filter or several layers of cheese cloth. Set it over a bowl. Add yogurt, and let drain at room temperature for at least 2 hours or covered in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

2. In a colander, toss together diced cucumber and 1 tsp salt. Let stand to drain for a half hour. Press the excess water out of the cucumbers, rinse quickly, and pat dry.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, cucumber, garlic, 2-3 pinches of salt, vinegar, parsley, dill, pepper (to taste), and olive oil.

I felt like Greek food the other night. I made Greek Chicken, pita bread, hummus, and tzatziki. This was a great meal. The chicken was very easy and tasty. But preparing all of it together was very time consuming, but much of it you could make ahead of time. As a matter of fact, the hummus and tzatziki taste better after you refrigerate them for a while. Next time I definitely will make this in a couple of stages.

Today I am just posting the Greek Chicken recipe. Check back over the next few days and I will post the recipe of the other items.

Greek Chicken (BetterRecipes.com)

wooden skewers
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup onion, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
juice of 1 lemon (or 3 Tbsp lemon juice)
1 tsp cumin
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried oregano

1. Cut each chicken breast into 5-6 chunks and place in large bowl. To the bowl, add the remaining ingredients. Mix well to coat chicken. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours.

2. Remove chicken from marinade and thread 5-6 chunks onto each wooden skewer. Grill until chicken is cooked through, about 7 minutes each side.

I had been saving this recipe to try from the April 2007 Better Homes and Garden magazine. This is a very good steak. Good but different. The basil gives it a really fresh unique flavor. I didn’t use tenderloins (they were outrageously priced). Instead I used small cuts of beef loin top. I am sure that it would have been much better with tenderloins but for a week night meal I didn’t feel like spending over $13 a pound!

Steak de Burgo (Better Homes and Garden, April 2007)

1/4 c butter, softened (divide use)
3 Tbsp fresh snipped basil (or about 2 Tbsp dried basil) (divided use)
4 4-oz beef tenderloin steak
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic thinly sliced
2 cups fresh mushrooms, quartered

1. In a small bowl, combine 3 Tbsp of the butter and 2 Tbsp fresh basil (or just over 1 Tbsp dried), save for later. Set aside the remaining butter and basil. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper.

2. In a large skillet* cook garlic in hot oil and the remaining butter over medium-low heat for 4-6 minutes or until garlic begins to brown, stirring occasionally. With a slotted spoon, remove the garlic, discard.

3. Increase heat to medium-high; add remaining basil and steaks. Cook steaks in skillet, turning once. Allow 10-13 minutes for medium-rare (145 degrees) to medium (160 degrees). Transfer steaks to serving platter; top each with the butter and basil mixture.**

4. Add mushrooms to skillet. Cook and stir until tender and brown, about 3 minutes. Spoon mushrooms over steaks.

Notes:

*I really like cast iron skillets for cooking steaks. They really conduct the heat well.

**I have a really cheap electric oven. One thing (the only thing) I really like about it it that the oven is vented out underneath one of my back burners. I can easily keep things warm by placing them on that burner. In the case of the steaks, I simply placed my platter on the burner (with the burner turned off of course) and was able to keep the steaks nice and hot while I cooked my mushrooms. The only reason I mention this is that it took me 5 years to figure this out!

I love winter because it means that it is time for soup! One of my favorite soups is tomato soup. My mother-in-law, Betty, gave me a great recipe for Creamy Tomato Soup. This is a very easy and quick recipe. It takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. The key to this recipe is really good tomato juice. Betty also gives me the best homemade tomato juice, so I am very fortunate. In case you aren’t as lucky, try the better brands of store bought tomato juice–they should be great.

Creamy Tomato Soup

3 tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 c minced onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 stalk celery, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 tbsp flour
1 c milk or half and half
4 c tomato juice
1 tsp sugar
1tsp chicken bouillon
1 small bay leaf

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add onion, celery, and garlic. Saute until tender. Add flour, salt, and pepper. Stir until smooth. Cook 1 minute; stirring constantly.

2. Gradually add milk, tomato juice, sugar, and chicken bouillon. Cook over medium heat; stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly. Add bay leaf. Simmer 1 minute. Remove bay leaf and serve.

Notes: I really like this with half and half. Definitely worth the extra fat content.

If you like your soup smooth, use either a immersion blender or transfer small amounts into a blender to blend.

If you like a chunkier soup, substitute 1 cup of crushed or diced tomatoes for 1 cup of the tomato juice.

Several months ago I bought the following apron from Layla Grayce. I love it. I like that it is cute–I can keep clean while cooking yet not look frumpy. It is also very easy to care for. I have had mine for 3 1/2 months. It has gone through LOTS of spills and plenty of machine washing and drying, yet it still looks brand new. Even if you don’t like my choice, check out Layla Grayce’s selection of aprons–I counted over 30 on their site today. They range in price from $17 to $44.